Have you ever been on a glacier?
If you have, you probably know how incredible it is. If you haven’t…well, I guess you don’t really know but I need to tell you, it is really incredible.
First, it’s important to know that you should never go on a glacier without someone well-trained, who knows what they are doing. Glaciers can be very unstable, because they are slowly, inexorably shifting every day. You can’t feel it when you are walking on the glacier, but it’s happening nonetheless. There are countless stories of people who venture out alone, never to return….but their bodies to be found years later as the crevasse into which they fell opens back up. So don’t go it alone.
I have the opportunity to walk on the Mýrdalsjökull glacier. We had walked around the edge of this glacier in 2015, but never really ventured onto it. The weather was taking a turn for the worse (in an awesome way) and our guide didn’t feel it would be safe. You can read more about that adventure here.
When we returned to Iceland in 2016, we went out with a guide on a gorgeous, sunny day with one of our goals being to get out onto the glacier, as well as try our hand at ice climbing. It’s hard to describe the experience because, when you look at the photos, it looks like just a large, snow-covered plain that you are walking on…and it is sort of like that. But as you are walking, you are passing gullies, crevasses, mounds of blue and green-covered ice, and you are constantly reminded that it’s not earth you’re walking on….it’s a massive helmet of pure ice.
The immensity of the glacier only strikes you from above, when you can look down on people, with their colors jackets on, and see them as little ants scurrying about!
Some adventurous souls, beginning their ice climbing experience.
There are little tunnels you can walk through and see the clear, blue ice. They are not man-made tunnels, they are formed by the movement of the glacier. A year later, those same tunnels will likely be gone and replaced by something else. It’s a constantly changing environment, year after year.
Our guide set us up with crampons and helmets, and we tromped across the snowy plains of ice. There were quite a few people out that day and it was fun to watch (and photograph) what everyone was doing in their own group. Svavar, our awesome guide that day, went to the top of an icy peak and reading the ropes for our ice climbing. He demonstrated how to use the climbing axes and the best techniques for using your crampons. Essentially, you are jamming the spikes on the toes of your crampons into the ice wall as you reach and flick your axe above you into the wall. It’s an unsettling feeling at first to rely completely on just those toe spikes, when your entire foot is not really even touching the wall…but you soon realize that you’re stable as you climb. That, plus the fact that Svavar was belaying us the entire time so that, should we fall, we wouldn’t plummet to our deaths.
The golden light of sunset on the glacier.
The glacier was amazing, such a wonderful experience. But our day wasn’t over when we left the glacier. We kept our crampons on while we drove to Skogafoss and Seljalandsfoss, two iconic waterfalls. We had visited both of them before, but with our crampons on, we were able to do what we could not do the first time….walk around easily. The ground in front of Skogafoss in particular was completely covered in ice, and it was really cool to easily walk while all of the chumps around us slid dangerously around. Seljalandsfoss was even better because you can walk behind that waterfall. However, in the winter, it is treacherous to do so because the stairs and ground behind it are covered in inches of ice, making it nearly impossible to walk. However, with our crampons on, we readily climbed without any issue, camera, tripod, and all - and were able to shoot some photos from behind the waterfall.
Skogafoss, a massive iconic waterfall
Behind Seljalandsfoss in the evening
All in all, it was an amazing day and an experience I would recommend to anyone visiting Iceland.
Until next time….
John